1. The group reads the text silently, highlighting it and writing notes in the margin on post-it notes in answer to the following four questions (you can also add your own “A”s)
• What Assumptions does the author of the text hold?
• What do you Agree with in the text?
• What do you want to Argue with in the text?
• What parts of the text do you want to Aspire to?
2. In a round, have each person identify one assumption in the text, citing the text (with page numbers, if appropriate) as evidence.
3. continue in rounds or facilitate a conversation in which the group talks about the text in light of each of the remaining “A”s, taking them one at a time – what do people want to argue with, agree with, and aspire to in the text? Try to move seamlessly from one “A” to the next, giving each “A” enough time for full exploration.
4. End the session with an open discussion framed around a question such as: What does this mean for our work with students?
Adapted from Judith Gray, Seattle, WA 2005Source: http://www.nsrfharmony.org/protocol/doc/4_a_text.pdf
1. The group reads the text silently, highlighting it and writing notes in the margin on post-it notes in
answer to the following four questions (you can also add your own “A”s)
• What do you Agree with in the text?
• What do you want to Argue with in the text?
• What parts of the text do you want to Aspire to?
2. In a round, have each person identify one assumption in the text, citing the text (with page numbers, if
appropriate) as evidence.
3. continue in rounds or facilitate a conversation in which the group talks about the text in light of
each of the remaining “A”s, taking them one at a time – what do people want to argue with, agree with,
and aspire to in the text? Try to move seamlessly from one “A” to the next, giving each “A” enough time
for full exploration.
4. End the session with an open discussion framed around a question such as: What does this mean for
our work with students?
5. Debrief the text experience.